Horse-collar



(No Model.)

B. L. BRUNDAGE. HORSE COLLAR.

No. 4 1,419. Patented 00a. 20, 1891 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ED\VIN L. BRUNDAGE, OF EAST ORANGE, NEYV JERSEY.

HORSE-COLLAR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 461,419, dated October 20, 1891. I Application filed July 14, 1890. Serial No. 358,769. (No model.)

.useful Improvement in the Construction of Horse-Collars, of which the following is a specification.

The object of my invention is to provide a horse-collar with cushions which shall furnish a full, complete, and uniform bearingupon the shoulders of the animal, and at the same time be perfectly flexible and conform .to the various shapes and contours of the shoulders, whether for light or heavy draft service, in one and the same collar.

The invention consists in the improved horse-collar with spring-cushions and the combination and arrangement of parts thereof, as hereinafter described, and finally embodied in the clauses of the claims.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, in which like letters of reference indicate corresponding parts .in each of the several figures, Figure l is a front view of a horse-collar embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a view of the frame to which the springs are attached, one side of the springs as removed and the other side showing the springs as attached thereto with the outside or spring covering removed; and Fig. 3 is an enlarged cross-section through the line so 00, Fig. 1, showing the construction and arrangement of the frame, springs, and covering.

In said drawings, A represents the collarframe,-made of bent Wood and shaped for the attachment of springs B, the whole to form a horse-collar shaped and covered as desired and the whole to constitute an elastic cushion horse-collar. The frame A is made in two parts, either of wood or metal, and bound together at top and bottom with metal breakjoints a, a, front and back, riveted or screwed to the frame, and binds the two sections together as one; or otherwise they may be hinged together at top and fitted with a catch or look at bottom, so as to open for placing over the animals neck. Various devices for locking open collars are well known and therefore need not be described.

The springs B are made preferably of thin band-steel of any desired width-say from one-half inch to one inch Wide-and are formed as hoops or rings of varying sizes to .conform to the Varying shape and design of the collar, and are made fast at their respective ends to the frame by nails or screws 0 c. The back, or that portion which bears upon the animal, is covered, preferably, with an' ered With leather G and united to the rub-- ber at b b by sewing or cement.

Inthe construction and arrangement of the springs it is essentialthat an easy or pli-v able and free action of the cushion should be had in all degrees of draft-as, for example, in the draft of an empty wagon or a medium or full load the springs of the cushion will have an equally elastic, easy, and free action. This essential feature I obtain by a system of multiple spring-hoops, one within another, as shown in section, Fig. 3, and in line xx, Fig. 1. The hoop-springs are varying diameters and arranged upon the inside of the collar, or that part constituting the bearing upon the animal, as that the several springs are so divided as to leave a space of one-fourth of, an inch, more or less, as may be desired, between them, so that in the draft upon them a light load acts only upon the outside hoop B to depress the same, and for a medium load yields and bears upon 0, and for a full and heavy load B further yields with C, and the latter bears upon D. Thus a light load is borne upon the series of outside springs B, and a heavy load borne upon the series B, O, and D with equally free act-iornand a most flexible spring-cushion in all degrees of draft is secured without liability of breaking by reason of its lightness and flexibility and not to crush or set by reason of its multiple arrangement. Only in most extraordinary heavy draft these multiple spring-hoops need f, to strengthen the same against splitting be increased to more than three in a series or capacity, one within another, as shown in Fig. 3, and as a rule in the lower portion only, Where the greatest strain is exerted upon the collar, to about one-third of the length of the whole, and thencein aseries of two hoops extending to or about one-half or three-fifths of the length of the Whole. The strain upon the remaining or upper portion of the springs is so reduced as to require only continuous single spring-hoops regularly reduced in diameter as to give desired shape to the collar, and all made fast to the frame A, as described.

The draft-eyes Ea substitute for the hames in ordinary collars for the attachment of tracesare connected as one with a thin plate d, extending therefrom up and down upon the collar, as will be seen, and secured by screws 6 tothe frame A.

frame A, I wind the same with thin band iron from the entering nails or screws, as described.

Instead'of the wood frame thusbound, metal pipe may be'substituted or other metal frame so formed as to have requisite strength and lightness, as may be found preferable.

In the employment of bent woodfor the" able covering, substantially as and for the.

purpose described.

2. A horse-collarcomprisinghoop-springs split and their meeting ends secured to the frame or body part at the front and having a suitable covering, substantially as and for the purpose described. A horse-collar comprising thebody por-.

tion and the yieldingspring-cushion, the said cushion comprising hoop-springs secured to the body portion'thereof and having asuitable covering combinedtherewit-h, the drafteyes E, and extension d d, the same-constituting hames, substantially'asand for the'purj pose described.

EDWIN L. BRUNDAGE. WVitnesses:

JOHN'SHERMAN, HUGH B; CowPER; 

